Have you ever tried to interact with a company (of any size, from Mom-N-Pop to sprawling conglomerate) and been unable to get the information you need?   And not because you don't know exactly what question to ask, but more pointedly because any number of employees 1) don't have an answer, 2) give a damn, 3) don't know how to navigate the internal information that their company is bedrock-ed upon, 4) don't know how to work with you to distill your concern into a question that can be answered, or 5) fill in the blank...

Now, have you ever had a good experience when inquiring with a company about some relevant business relationship you have with them?   It's pleasant isn't it?   Transparency is the reason why.   A company should have no reason to hide any information about its product and itself from you.  

I'd like to cover one way in which you can make your own company transparent to users, which in turn opens communications with them.   To broach the topic, the example of Dell's blog Direc2Dell is the bees knees for explaining and exploring this issue.   Essentially, Dell was getting their reputation torn to shreds by blogger Jeff Jarvis over a service related issue.   It didn't hurt that Jarvis is a   social media expert and scribe of   BuzzMachine.com (as well as a journalistic and new media reputation longer than the Great Wall of China). Dell didn't jump on the scenario too quick and they got slammed by tens of thousands of writers/personalities.   Then they wised up and not only revamped their customer service division, but created the Direct2Dell blog site.

On the site, customers and Dell employees not only discuss issues/wants/desires of Dell products, but they also collaborate on new Dell products (a Linux OS machine is now provided because of one such dialogue).   This is Transparency in action.   Imagine if you had a blog where ALL your employees had administrative access (of course you'd provide training - both technical and functional)...and your customers could not just access completely transparent news about your company, but could also interact with employees over time to discuss and resolve issues, generate new customer-oriented programs or products, and so on.  

Transparency can be a touchy topic for some employees, but the truth is this - you're obligation to the customer is paramount.   And you can easily make big wins with lots of relevant parties if you just start such an effort.   When you follow through you'll see even more success.   If a company as big as Dell can pull it off, you can as well.   Contact me if you have further questions either by commenting here or at jamesvito@gmail.com.

Peace...James